Cleaning until I drop

A lot has been happening in the last week and a half. I had my last day of work on Wednesday the 22nd. As soon as the work day was over I drove up to Grand Rapids to help my mom with the garage sale and go to the interview on Thursday. The garage sale went pretty well, mom decided to have it on Wednesday and Thursday since Dave and I were moving in on Saturday and a lot of stuff was gone after Wednesday morning... which meant I didn't end up doing a whole lot. Thursday I drove out to the small town of Remer for the interview. It took about 40 minutes and I got there just a little early. The interview wasn't great but not awful either... they asked me a lot of band specific questions, and since I haven't been very involved in teaching band for a few years now I didn't always have the greatest answers. Needless to say, I did not get the job. I was sad that first day (because the principal had assured me that he would be calling the same day with either response), but by afternoon the next day I had moved on and was thinking of other stuff I could apply for. I may end up substitute teaching - sort of holding out on that since I don't like not knowing my schedule and that job makes it difficult to schedule if you really take jobs every day.

Friday I drove my parent's truck back to Duluth and brought a bed to my sister. Saturday was the big move - we have a lot of stuff. I think we ended up renting a 17 foot U-haul and filling it completely. The move went pretty smoothly and we were even able to unpack quite a bit despite how I felt the next day (sore and a little hungover... my parents really broke out the alcohol and I didn't drink enough water).

This week Dave is still working before our big Iowa/Oklahoma trip to visit friends. I took the time off so that I could clean the apartment. That's been going slowly but nicely. I don't think this apartment has been as clean as I'm getting it in at least 20 years. I scrubbed the entire perimeter (baseboards) of the apartment with a toothbrush. As I write this I am putting off retrieving laundry, wiping down window blinds, and taking a shower (I've taken to doing that in the late afternoons after I getting dirty cleaning (ironic isn't it) and before I see friends). I guess I will quit procrastinating.

Monday, Monday

I'm already done with work for the day and only have 2 days left of work (at least with the current job). My interview for the Instrumental Band position was moved up from Friday to Thursday because of something they're doing with the utilities at the school. I'm getting a little more excited, but still nervous.

To follow up with the Prius car stuff that Dave was going for, he did a bunch of research and now wants to wait for the Chevy Volt. It's supposed to get 100 miles per gallon. We'll see...

I'm munching on some ranch/Parmesan/breaded chicken and my crazy garlic mashed potatoes. I made them yesterday and added a little too much garlic, that and onion which was totally uncooked/fried/etc. They might actually be better as left-overs for once.

In other (greatly exciting) news, I went to the bank today to cash in our change. From what I can remember, this should be close to two years of change (mostly Dave's because I use mine), but it only yielded about $17. I thought last time I cashed it in it was close to double that, but I always take quarters out for laundry and parking. I read once that if you saved up all of your change you would be able to take a vacation on the money at the end of the year. These people must pay for everything with cash, and they must buy a lot. If I saved up all of my change I might afford to drive to Two Harbors and back with money to stop at Betty's pies.

Goodbye Apartment

In the small beige apartment

There was a thermostatAnd a special compartment

And a radiator belonging to—

The heating department

And there were lots of polka dots, lit up by many watts

And a hidden fireplace and a touch of floral grace

And a nautical trifle and a bell to stifle

And a switch plate and a sink with steady drink

And a small glass knob that shines with a wink

Goodbye apartment

Goodbye compartment

Goodbye heating department

Goodbye light and special compartment

Goodbye polka dots goodbye watts

Goodbye fireplace goodbye floral grace

Goodbye molding and goodbye folding

Goodbye bell to stifle and goodbye trifle

Goodbye switch plate and goodbye sink

Goodbye nobody goodbye steady drink

And goodbye to the glass knob that shines with a wink

Goodbye room, goodbye spare

Goodbye rentals everywhere.

based on "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown

In the last few days I've been busy (not an excuse for not writing busy though). Finishing up working, I have three days left, and packing mainly. Now that I have so few food items in my cupboards it's been easier to come up with dinner ideas, the fewer options the easier.

Yesterday I had a facial at Origins, complements of my younger sister. She also did my make-up and then we went out with Dave, Alex's (my sister) date, and his friend. Burgers and beer - I was not feeling in a very "beery" mood but the boys were. Everyone agreed that the burgers seemed particularly delicious and we had good conversations (I thought anyway).

The bigger news that I should probably address is that I got an interview for a job. It's 30 miles away from where we would be staying (and 30 in a different direction from the 50 Dave would be going for his job) and it's teaching band. I'm frightened. I'm nervous about both the interview and the possibility of teaching again. Dave gave/lent me a book to read by Harry Wong called "The First Days of School - how to be an effective teacher." It's supposed to be great advice about classroom management... making kids behave. The nice things about the timing of the interview are that I will be done with my job, and I will already be in the area. I will be going there on Wednesday to help my mom with a garage sale at my grandma's house (the one I will be moving into), and the interview is on Friday. After the interview I will go back to the garage sale - if for no other reason to just calm down and relate what happened, and then go back to Duluth (where we live now) so I can rest up for the big move on Saturday. Things are looking pretty good, lots of boxes and less loose stuff.

I should go, the ferrets are giving me sad eyes. They haven't received nearly as much playtime since they get into everything = ferrets packed in a box for a week = not good.

rain, finally

We have been needing rain for a while now so I'm glad that we got some. Last night I had a shift from 5-9 and was training someone in. We usually go to music in the park on Tuesday nights but since there was rain we went to a house and watched "Hotel for Dogs." It was cute and decent for that (kids comedy/feel-good) genre of movie. On the way home it was very foggy, but also pretty. I saw the results of an accident and many frogs on the road.

Dave defends his thesis today so send positive energy/prayers if you read this before 10am today. I'm confident that he will do well.

I work almost 12 hours today (my fault, I was willing to pick up a 6.5 hour shift in addition to my 5 hour one) and then we're going to Harry Potter with friends, I don't care if it's dorky, I enjoy those movies and the books (however, I won't be dressing up as anyone from the movie). Well, I should probably get to packing my lunch and dinner for today.

Randomly, does anyone have any recipe ideas for canned olives? I still have two full cans that I'm trying to use before we move. I will probably make dip with one of them.

anniversary

I don't feel too inspired about writing today so it might be short. I figured I should go ahead and write anyway because I'd like to keep it a habit.

Today is Dave and my anniversary. We're going to a Mexican restaurant that Dave really liked and I haven't been to, I'm not picky so I'm sure that I will also love it. Every day I think I am going to get so much packed but it never seems to happen (lies, I have packed a lot! - it's just been a slow and steady amount of packing so it doesn't seem like a lot).

I applied to a few jobs in the Education field, nervous about all of them, nervous to get the jobs, nervous to not get them, nervous about possible interviews. I always find something to worry about though so this is not a big deal right now.

My other thing to worry about is Dave wanting a new car. Dave lovingly calls me Miss Moneybags from time to time, and not because I necessarily have a lot of money or make a lot (I definitely wouldn't say I make a lot), but because I am very frugal, conservative, and yes, sometimes very stingy. Hopefully that makes it clear why I am worried about this new car business. He's interested in a Prius... I really like the idea of a larger (I have a Yaris), more (most) fuel efficient car, but that's a lot of money and he just found out he got this job. Sigh... we'll see how it pans out.

nevermind, time to celebrate!

Yesterday Dave and I were so down about the job stuff that we forgot there was still a possibility of him getting one of them (the other job he knew for a fact was taken), which is why it was so much of a happy shock when he was offered the job today! I'm sort of anti-exclamation point, so using one in both the title and post should indicate how exciting this information is.

I work with adults that have special needs and am not supposed to answer my phone while working unless the company is calling me. Today Dave called a couple times in a row so I was naughty and answered... hey, it could have been an emergency right? Really I had an idea that if he was trying me more than once it may be related to the job situation, so when I picked up I immediately asked him if he got the ___ job, to which he (as is obvious at this point) responded "yes." Part of what is so exciting is that this is the job that allows us to live in the un-inhabited grandma's house. Did I mention that this house is on a lake? I'm very excited... now I just have to find a job and life will be near-perfect.

Dave is trying to get me to ditch my late shift so I can party with him. While that is not going to happen I did put some wine in the fridge and maybe he will still be up at midnight when I return home.

bummer

Today Dave had two interviews but he knows he didn't get one of the jobs and highly suspects that he didn't get the other. There was a lot of good competition and so far Dave has two "real" years of experience teaching in addition to a long-term sub job and a part-time job at a private school. Honestly Dave wasn't that excited about either job, but they were in good locations in relation to our soon to be home. That soon to be home is my grandma's empty house just outside of a medium sized town (at least medium for this area). I think the day has drained a lot of our emotional energy, especially since it was looking so good to begin with.

Yesterday was a better day... worked, got packing done, and went on a date with Dave. We have a "date bucket," as I call it, that we draw different date ideas out of each week. This week was one of Dave's selections - bowling. He knew where to find a cheap bowling alley but I had forgotten about construction on the freeway so we got caught up in that for a while, Dave was not pleased. There were only a couple of cars in the parking lot but the place was open. The place looked large to me, about 15? lanes, although I think the space was enhanced by not having much to fill it. There was a man and woman bowling continually (since before we got there and still going after we left), and a grandpa with two grandchildren in another lane. We got our shoes and after a brief argument about whether it was alright to wear street shoes on the linoleum (not the wooden lanes) or not, we got started. I am not a good bowler by any stretch of the imagination. Dave claimed to not be good either, but I think getting two strikes in a row moves you up into the "good" category, maybe that just shows how poor of a player I am. I started out with a solid "0" on my first turn. I slowly got better while Dave steadily got better, and then something strange happened. Dave clearly knocked down 7 pins, and yet the scoreboard lit up with a big "X." The three remaining pins stayed up but it was now my turn apparently. I decided to roll with it (seriously, no pun intended) and managed to knock down at least two of the pins which caused me to get a 6 and the pins were reset for my second shot. On this second shot (with all 10 pins intact) I knocked down three pins and received 3 points adding up to 9 for this round. Now since I only knocked down the 3 pins, there were seven still up for Dave. We finally decided to reset the pins each time it did this and found that any time we knocked six or seven pins down the machine decided we had gotten all ten. I ended the game with 110 (sadly this was probably an all time high) and Dave had 148... he even got a fake turkey with a couple real strikes and 7 combined by the faulty machine. Once we started the second game the staff saw what was happening and graciously offered us another lane. This machine worked perfectly which meant I ended with 65 and Dave with another 148 (so he must have done better this time since there weren't cheats). It was a sucessful date with some yummy chicken covered in barbeque sauce, ham, cheese, green onions, and tomatoes following the games.

packing vs. goodwill pile

Unfortunately packing stuff is winning over the items entering the Goodwill pile. I felt as though I packed all day yesterday and yet I only turned out about four boxes. I have no idea how that is possible except that I had to take out the recycling (mainly paper/cardboard) a couple times... so maybe recycling wins this contest. That is a good thing because it still means less to pack.

The positives of getting ready for this move include finding my mouth guard (I clench, not grind, my teeth at night), throwing out unnecessary things, and utilizing my organizational sense. Yesterday my husband went through about fifteen boxes of computer parts. When I returned home I was happy to find that he did not need any of them, unhappy to realize that it meant a trip to the dump and more breaking down cardboard. I think this says something about his computer geekiness (which I love him for - although his playing computer games is another story).

For today I plan to tackle the scary basement storage. We currently live in a 6-unit apartment building with shared coin laundry. We have two bedrooms, the second is very small and is used to house the computers and ferrets (the computers being left on help warm up the ferrets during the winter), and a scary basement storage space similar to a walk-in closet. I think it is scary because it smells like mold and there are always cobwebs. I made Dave (husband) remove a spider egg sack from the ferret's travel carrier one time. The creature I really don't want to see down there is the centipede. I haven't come across one yet, but they are definitely my least favorite. I have a routine of using a flashlight and several stomps on the ground to scare things like that away upon entering the space. Whenever possible I try to pawn any basement storage dealings off on Dave. Hopefully I won't see anything too traumatic, the ferrets don't console me very well when things go wrong.

Intro Post

For a short time I had a live journal but decided that I wrote things that were a little too personal and deleted the whole thing. In complete (and pathetic) honesty, I have started this blog because I have friends with blogs and enjoy reading their blogs (along with other people's blogs). I also thought it would be fun to start writing on a more regular basis... meaning more regular than writing in my diary twice a year. The biggest thing I would like to work on in terms of writing for the blog is making it at least somewhat interesting. So far I can tell I'm failing (this isn't exactly riveting), but it's the first post so I really don't care. I like improvement and I think it's natural, especially since nothing in particular comes very easily to me.

I should probably have a theme, but I don't really want to limit myself early on so I may write on topics related to moving (at least in the next month or two since we need to be out of this place by the end of the month and haven't even figured out where we will be going... there are two major options that are ready so no huge worries), music (I was a music major but truly I am not much more qualified than the average person to comment/critique), finger puppets (more on this later), nature, married life, ferrets (I have two), financial stuff (nothing complex... just rambling about how I hate to spend money), and whatever happens to come up in my life.

I'll try to make things more interesting, but for now I need to get more packing done. I've done about 10 boxes and the apartment looks the same other than the bookcases being "emptier."